4.  The applicant was born in 1974 and lives in Zadar.
5.  On 17 December 2008 the Zadar County Court (Županijski sud u Zadru) found the applicant guilty on charges of drug abuse and sentenced him to four years and three months’ imprisonment.
6.  On 1 October 2009 the applicant was placed in Zagreb Prison (Zatvor u Zagrebu).
7.  According to the applicant, during his stay in Zagreb Prison he was held in a cell measuring sixteen to twenty square metres, with six to seven other inmates. The sanitary facilities were in the same room and only a wall approximately 1,80 metres high separated the living area and sanitary facilities, including a toilet. The sanitary facilities were about one metre away from the dining table and there was a constant smell in the cell. He was able to take a shower only once a week which was insufficient since he had been diagnosed as suffering from asthma and allergies. The cell had never been disinfected so cockroaches were frequently found in the inmates’ food or drinks. The window was covered with aluminium netting which prevented the daylight coming into the cell. He was constantly confined to the cell and was allowed out into the fresh air only for two hours a day.
8.  His contact with the outside world was very limited. He was able to talk with his wife only for eight minutes a week and was not able to see his three-year old daughter at all.
9.  According to the Government, during his stay in Zagreb Prison the applicant was detained in two cells. Each cell measured 21,20 square metres and the applicant was placed with five to six other inmates, depending on the period. The applicant had access to hot and cold water and the sanitary facilities were physically separated from the living area by a wall 1,80 meters high. Each cell had four windows measuring in total 3,20 square metres. Two windows could be opened fully and two only partially.
10.  It was possible to shower once a day and if necessary even more frequently. The cells were treated for insects at least four times a year and also for rodents twice a year. The meals were served in the cells since Zagreb Prison did not have a dining room. However, the food was regularly inspected. In the applicant’s cell there was a television set and he was able to engage in sporting activities, to practice a religion and to buy various items in the prison shop. The applicant was allowed to spend two hours outdoors every day. His medical condition was also monitored and he was provided with adequate medical assistance.
11.  As to his contacts with the outside world, the applicant was able to make phone calls once a week for eight minutes. He was also able to receive visits twice a month and on holidays for at least one hour. On different occasions the prison authorities granted him an additional thirty minutes for visits which he could have used within three months. He was also given the right to have unsupervised visits from his wife once a month for two hours over a period of three months. The applicant had access to newspapers and books.
12.  On 4 February 2010 the applicant complained to a sentence-execution judge of the Zagreb County Court (Županijski sud u Zagrebu) and the Zagreb County State Attorney’s Office (Županijsko državno odvjetništvo u Zagrebu) about the conditions of his detention and his treatment in Zagreb Prison. The relevant part of his complaint reads:
“I have been imprisoned in Zagreb Prison since 1 October 2009 in Department no. 7 where I am serving a four years and three months’ prison sentence. I have already served more than three years and I still have less than a year to serve ...
 I suffer from asthma. My human rights, provided inter alia under the Sentence Execution Act, are violated in Zagreb Prison. I have been placed in a room with six other inmates. The room has less than requested four square meters per person and I am confined in the room for twenty-two hours. It does not have sufficient access of daylight nor appropriate artificial light and access of fresh air, what makes my health condition to deteriorate day by day.
The toilet is not separated from the same room where we are accommodated and where we eat and drink. It is only divided with two walls of a height up to the half of the room. The doors are lifted from the ground for forty centimetres and the sanitary facilities are rusted. The smell from the toilet, especially during the night while we sleep, is unbearable. Therefore the room is full of cockroaches which scroll during the night on me, on the table where we eat, on our food, ect.
The prison administration and the Head of treatment in the Department no. 7 and the Head Office of the Prison Administration have been informed about the bad conditions but nobody reacts, nobody cares that this problem be resolved.
Because of my health problems I have asked for more appropriate accommodation, namely to be placed in isolation but so far this has not been granted. I am lodging this complaint because of the violation of my human rights under Article 3 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and I hope that the Zagreb State Attorney’s Office will be able to sanction this or at least that my complaint will be answered so that I can take further legal actions.”
13.  On 11 March 2010 the applicant’s complaint was forwarded to the Head Office of the Prison Administration of the Ministry of Justice (Ministartsvo pravosuđa Uprava za zatvorski sustav Središnji ured).
14.  On 26 April 2010 the Head Office of the Prison Administration of the Ministry of Justice replied to the applicant by a letter that his complaints were unfounded and that he had received adequate medical treatment. The relevant part of the letter reads:
“Concerning your complaint about your medical treatment of your asthma diagnosis, we reply as follows:
Since 1 October 2009 you have been serving your prison sentence in Zagreb Prison where you are placed in a closed department. You are not performing any work. In execution of the program of execution of the prison sentence you have been awarded grade “satisfactory”.
The medical report reveals that you are a drug addict for years and that you have hepatitis C and bronchial asthma which is the result of your allergy on dust.
Under the recommendation of the lung diseases specialist you have been granted use of drugs “Alvesco” and Ventolin spray.
During your stay in Zagreb Prison you have been seen by a psychiatrist and you have been treated for the respiratory infect (received antibiotic and ...).
On more occasions you have been granted use of the antihistaminic in tablets as well as vitamin B and a neutral crème.
The above shows that you have an appropriate and expert medical treatment and that your diagnosis and the drug addiction have been appropriately treated under the supervision of the specialised physicians and regular controls of the [prison] doctors. Therefore, your complaint is ill-founded.”
15.  On 30 April 2010 the applicant lodged an objection with the Head Office of the Prison Administration of the Ministry of Justice against their findings, reiterating his previous claims.
16.  On 11 May 2010 the Head Office of the Prison Administration of the Ministry of Justice replied to the applicant that he had failed to put forward any new argument and that all his complaints had already been examined. The relevant part of the letter reads:
“ On 30 April 2010 you have lodged an objection with this Head Office against the reply concerning your complaint of 11 March 2010.
Everything to what you have complained in your letter of 11 March 2010 has been fully examined as required under Section 15 § 3 of the Sentence Execution Act and you have received a detailed reply on 26 April 2010.
Therefore, since in your objection you are reiterating your previous arguments ... we can only refer to our reply of 26 April 2010.”
17.  On 7 June 2010 the applicant lodged a further complaint with the Zagreb County Court pointing out that he had never received any decision of the sentence-execution judge of as regards his complaint of 4 February 2010.
18.  On 17 August 2010 the applicant lodged a constitutional complaint with the Constitutional Court (Ustavni sud Republike Hrvatske). He argued that he had been placed in a cell measuring twenty square metres with six other persons and that he had been confined there for twenty-two hours a day. He also complained that the sanitary facilities had not been separated from the living area and that the room had been full of cockroaches.
19.  On 4 October 2010 he was transferred to Split Prison (Zatvor u Splitu).
20.  On 10 January 2011 the applicant was released on parole.
21.  The proceedings before the Constitutional Court are still pending.